“There is quality within each and every step of our work.”
Ron
Quality Manager
We closely trace his steps. The quality manager does the final inspection – right? “Well yes, but mostyl only in cases of doubt,” Ron nods. “First and foremost, I’m responsible for work safety and quality. The one necessitates the other, because we can only deliver consistently high quality if we work consistently safe.”
In day-to-day business, Ron works closely with Jan, the Production Manager. For example, in complaints processing, which is now completely his responsibility. He meticulously documents missing parts and whether they weren’t delivered, or why they were damaged. “Our documentation provides a basis for decisions: Which supplier stays, which one should be changed? Where might different tooling be useful, which employee needs further training?”
According to Ron, it makes much more sense to start the work at a high level of quality and maintain that level throughout the workflow rather than to just revise the finished bikes. “The better everything comes together from the prep stages on, the higher the assurance for a quality product at the end. That goes for parts as well as the way we work with them. “
Ron also handles all common safety issues: From setting up workstations and break rooms, to ensuring compliance with regulations for handling materials and machinery, to checking safety glasses and safety shoes. “Once you run over your foot with a pallet truck, well… It’s part of my job to keep my colleagues from that painful experience by reminding them to wear their safety gear. Sometimes with a nudge, sometimes with a push,” he laughs.
He likes to laugh a lot anyway, and frequently keeps doing so as he tells us about his path to becoming the Quality Manager. As a newly certified bicycle mechanic, Ron first worked in surface technology. “My eye was trained by that; it doesn’t miss anything.” Subsequently managing a successful bicycle store broadened his perspective by a dealer’s as well as a customer’s viewpoint. “Now when I’m doing a quality check, I always ask myself, ‘Would I sell it like this? Would I buy it like this?’. “
Ron knows how to maintain standards, but it’s on an entirely different subject when his eyes light up. “I like creating things. To have a table full of individual parts and then to make a whole out of them, that’s great!” That’s also how he discovered his talent and enthusiasm for “tinkering with bikes” when he was 13. An off-the-rack bike was boring to his teenage mind and so he assembled his own parts, painted them himself, and ended up attracting a fair amount of attention in the schoolyard.
He still enjoys tinkering to date and is very happy that it’s also part of his job at GBN. “Bicycle and parts manufacturers are constantly evolving, there are always innovations that we have to react to in production. For example, we now have this new high-end racing bike and the brake lines are supposed to be completely invisible, from front to back. We have to figure out: How do we get the brake installed in such a way that a whole series can be done on our assembly line in a certain amount of time? That’s also part of the quality at GBN, that we are able offer this type of creative service.”
